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The Book of Judges in the Bible at one point describes a battle between the Gileadites, (members of the tribes on the east side of the Jordan River, and the tribe of Ephraim, (on the West side). The Gileadites defeated the Ephraimites, and were also able to sieze the fords to the Jordan, so that soldiers trying to flee from the battle had to pass through Gilead checkpoints to get back to Ephraim. Anyone trying to pass the ford was told to say the word "Shibboleth" (a word meaning either a stalk of wheat, or flood or torrent). Since the Ephraim accent differed from that of the Gileadites, it would come out sounding like "Sibboleth", and so the enemy soldiers were identitifed. (Judges 12:4-6)

There have been other instances in history of passwords designed to trip up and identify a spy. Perhaps the most well-known example is the word "Lallapallooza", used to identify possible Japanese spies during World War II. British paratroopers used "Whoa Mohammed" in a similar manner since the Germans found it similarly hard to replicate - originally picked up by imitating "yodelling" herdsmen in North Africa, the cry went with them through Sicily, Normandy and many other places as far as Arnhem, where the majority of the veterans familiar with the tradition were killed or captured.

In modern times the word "shibboleth" is sometimes used figuratively to mean a "code word" used to identify oneself as the member of a certain group. For example, a politician might pay lip service to "Fiscal Responsibility" and "Limited Government" in order to gain the acceptance and approval of Conservatives, even if his policies would actually do the opposite. And, of course, every political group has its own shibboleths which members are expected to invoke.